You want to have a single purpose for your direct mail piece. Often times the goal of a direct mail campaign is to get the recipient to buy a product or use a service. Other goals can be to send people to your website, get people to enter a contest, or let people know about an upcoming event. Knowing your goal will help you formulate what you want the direct mail piece to say. You also need to consider what the recipient stands to gain from the letter.

With so many of the us depending on the internet to stay tuned into what's going on in our lives and in the world, it's no wonder that direct mail, or "direct classic" as the industry sometimes refers to it, has become an afterthought for small business marketing strategies. Postage is getting more and more expensive. Plus, email delivery and online communications are near immediate compared to the time it takes to go through the production, proofing, printing, and mailing process.

Advertisers have a wide variety of ways of presenting their promotional messages, including the ability to convey images, video, audio, and links. Unlike many offline ads, online ads also can be interactive.[18] For example, some ads let users input queries[69] or let users follow the advertiser on social media.[70] Online ads can even incorporate games.[71]
Here are some of the most interesting email marketing stats around. The Radicati Group says we’ll send and receive around 281 billion emails this year. According to Adestra, 78% of teens use email. Statista reports that 85% of US adults use email. Consumers like getting emails from the brands they love. But email senders have to respect the inbox. Email too often, or include the wrong content, and Litmus says some people will report your email as spam instead of unsubscribing.
E-mail promotion is widely used by e-marketers to send new product/service information to their registered customers. For example, airline companies periodically e-mail their registered customers about their e-fares and promotional vacation packages. Spamming refers to sending millions of e-mail promotions to recipients who have never asked for the information. These recipients' e-mail addresses are often purchased or swapped with other businesses. Spamming is at best unethical and at worst illegal.

Many laws specifically regulate the ways online ads are delivered. For example, online advertising delivered via email is more regulated than the same ad content delivered via banner ads. Among other restrictions, the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 requires that any commercial email provide an opt-out mechanism.[108] Similarly, mobile advertising is governed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), which (among other restrictions) requires user opt-in before sending advertising via text messaging.

Digital marketing planning is a term used in marketing management. It describes the first stage of forming a digital marketing strategy for the wider digital marketing system. The difference between digital and traditional marketing planning is that it uses digitally based communication tools and technology such as Social, Web, Mobile, Scannable Surface.[58][59] Nevertheless, both are aligned with the vision, the mission of the company and the overarching business strategy.[60] https://blog.capterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/email-templates-720x360.png
Marketers don’t always automatically receive notifications when they’ve been blacklisted, so it’s up to the marketer to monitor their brand’s email sending reputation. There are a number of free online resources that marketers should utilize to check their blacklist status before sending an email blast, such as Barracuda Reputation Block List or MultiRBL.
If you want to code your own emails, you have the freedom to do so. But this is an advanced skill that requires a good bit of technical know-how. Here’s what you need to take the coding leap—whether you’re just getting started, wondering about the basics of HTML emails, or looking for a guide to coding them. We’ve also rounded up a few more resources you might need as you become a certifiable email pro.
Within the past decade there has been a podcasting revolution going on, with the number of Americans who listen to podcasts doubling in seven years. Maybe it’s because they’re just so convenient and so much easier to consume, or maybe it’s because the format is just somehow perfect for storytelling. Whatever it is, podcasting is here to stay and is one of the most engaging forms of media out there.
Useful items or tips: Realtors often send their clients and customers calendars and recipes. People who receive these items will keep them because they offer something helpful or useful, and it keeps the Realtor's name in their mind because they're reminded of it each time the prospect refers to the calendar or recipe. You can do the same. Just make sure that what you send is something people would want to keep and fits with your business.
Choose analytics software that works for your organization. While many email marketing applications have built-in analytics, you may consider getting a third party system to help you process the data or statistics on your campaigns. Some software can give you a more comprehensive or visual representation of your analytics, while others may track something that your current content management system does not. The size and scope of your e-blast campaign will dictate which kind of software you require.
Well written! I’m in Direct mail solutions business. Thanks for pointing out the effectiveness of direct mail campaign in todays digital Age. It’s been used for decades until now. Traditional mailing is just so efective as ever. Direct mail marketing is definitely right especially for people who want to start their own business to build brand awareness in their communities.
Your best bet will be to give away something that’s valuable to your target market; for instance, a high-value digital asset on a niche topic. You can give away products (we’ve all seen contests where the prize is a free iPad or gift certificates), however this strategy often leads to entrants who are more interested in the money than in what you have to offer.
Use custom campaign URLs. Google provides a tool where you can create your own unique URL for your particular marketing campaigns. You may include parameters such as your medium, source, content, term, and campaign name. As soon as you have a customized link, you may use it in its complete form or shorten it by using a link shortening tool such as bit.ly.
As digital marketing continues to grow and develop, brands take great advantage of using technology and the Internet as a successful way to communicate with its clients and allows them to increase the reach of who they can interact with and how they go about doing so,.[2] There are however disadvantages that are not commonly looked into due to how much a business relies on it. It is important for marketers to take into consideration both advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing when considering their marketing strategy and business goals.

Simpson says that he can tell when a brand hasn’t put effort into designing a mail piece, but he can also tell when it puts in too much misguided effort. Direct mail shouldn’t look like a beautiful magazine ad, he says, as this kind of mailed content tends to draw little response from consumers. Instead, direct mail pieces should have good copy and the right offer for the right demographic.

The fact is, a significant percentage of millennials like mail. It has a built-in emotional response factor. Gallup reported that 36% of people under the age of 30 look forward to checking their mailboxes every day. What’s more, 95% of 18-to-29-year-olds have a positive response to receiving personal cards and letters. Notably this generation will wield a combined $1.4 trillion in spending power by 2020, as reported by Accenture.
Loved reading this! Which of these would you recommend so that I could set myself reminders on certain clients so that I can follow up with them in the future? I feel like I am doing a lot of extra steps that I might not have to do if I was using an actual marketing software. I am in the very beginning stages of getting my business out there and I would like to follow up with potential clients down the road with an email… is this a possibility or should I just keep using my excel spreadsheet!?
Advertisers have a wide variety of ways of presenting their promotional messages, including the ability to convey images, video, audio, and links. Unlike many offline ads, online ads also can be interactive.[18] For example, some ads let users input queries[69] or let users follow the advertiser on social media.[70] Online ads can even incorporate games.[71] https://subiz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/email-marketing-campaign.jpg
An email blast is a single email message that is sent to a large group of recipients. Email blasts are no longer an email marketing best practice. Email marketers should segment their lists and send targeted messages to their subscribers. All email blasts need to follow the CAN-SPAM Act, include an unsubscribe link, and accurately identify the person or business that is deploying the email.
Have a clear purpose for the blast. Email blasting customers or partners is not an arbitrary task. Each blast should have a concise purpose before you begin to draft it. Determine what you're trying to deliver and how you want the recipients to react to the email. The blast's purpose could be enticing customers to purchase something, updating employees on a new project or initiative, or a newsletter to recap the month's events. Once you determine the purpose of the blast, you can work on making the message more clear to your recipients.[1]